Struggle
by Izaritum
Summary: A hunt leaves Merlin missing and Arthur fighting against his own injuries in an attempt to get out of Camelot and find his servant.


**Disclaimer**: I do not own Merlin nor anything associated with it, this is purely for fun and entertainment!

**Summary**: Merlin's been kidnapped! A simple hunting expedition went terribly wrong when the hunting party was attacked and Merlin taken.

**A/N: **So this is one of my first attempts at a piece of Merlin fiction as the other few ideas I had didn't seem to take flight any higher than a few chapters, so I've decided to combine the ideas from those stories into a new idea for this story and see what I come up with. Please tell me what you think, even if your thoughts aren't so good, I'm decent at taking criticism, especially when it will help my writing become better and more enjoyable to read. So don't be shy!

Chapter 1

"You need to rest, Sire! You're lucky to be alive!" Gaius snapped as he turned to see Arthur clumsily trying to pull himself from his bed, yet again. The old doctor had been arguing with the young prince for the better part of three hours over the importance of rest. However, he simply didn't seem to be getting through to the young man.

"Gaius! I can't sit here and do nothing! Not while he's still out there!" The prince shifted uncomfortably, his eyes drifting to the window.

"Go ahead then! Go and join the search teams!" Gaius snapped suddenly, if he couldn't get through to Arthur with words alone perhaps a demonstration would reiterate his point.

Arthur blinked in disbelief, stunned by the physician's harsh tone. He simply looked at the doctor through wide, startled eyes. Gaius swept his hand towards the door as an invitation for the prince to leave. When Arthur finally recovered from the shock Gaius had given him he tossed the covers back and shot to his feet. When he had gotten no more than half the distance across his large room to change, his knees buckled and he hit the floor, hard. The room was spinning around him, causing his stomach to churn. He moaned miserably and grunted when his head blossomed in pain. Nausea sliced through him in waves, leaving him fighting for control.

In his haze, the prince felt Gaius' strong hands grab him under the arms and lift him to stand. The doctor steered Arthur back to his bed and sat him down before taking a seat himself on a chair next to the bed, where he watched the prince fight a losing battle with his stomach. Gaius' eyes went to the basin that he had set next to the bed for this purpose and grabbed it, shoving it under Arthur's chin just before the young man started to gag.

"Do you still want to join the search party, sire?" The doctor asked expectantly and Arthur glared at him over the edge of the basin in misery.

A few moments passed before Arthur collapsed back to his pillows, exhausted from head to toe. He never knew he could feel this awful, both mentally and physically. His eyes drifted shut, but he urged them to open and shifted to sit, turning to Gaius.

"What about Merlin? We can't just leave him out there on his own! Who knows what could have happened to him!" Arthur replied.

"Merlin will be fine, Arthur. Sir Leon took a party out to search for him." Gaius answered, and didn't miss the look that Arthur gave him.

"My father allowed that?"

Gaius smiled softly, "What your father doesn't know will not hurt him. As far as your father knows, Sir Leon and the others are on a patrol to one of the outer villages to check on the story that a sorcerer has taken refuge there and is causing problems."

Arthur returned the smile and nodded before his attention was drawn to where his father had just burst into his room, the door slamming against the wall before shutting again. The King strutted across the floor with the sole intention of sitting on the Prince's bed next to him and giving his son a warm hug and a soft kiss on the top of the head.

"You have everyone very worried, Arthur. From What Gaius tells me, you're lucky to be alive. I don't know what I would have done had I lost you." Uther spoke softly as Gaius graciously bowed and stepped back to allow the very rare family moment to bloom.

"Don't worry father, you won't get rid of me that easily." The young prince joked.

Uther laughed and pulled away, "And I am so glad for that fact. Get some rest and I will be back this evening to check on you."

Arthur nodded and relaxed back onto the pillows, with no intentions of resting, how could he when his servant was still out there? His eyes glanced down to his bruised hands as his father left him. He sighed, he felt so useless and he felt guilty that he had a warm bed and people surrounding him that cared about his wellbeing, Merlin should be here. He felt slight tears stinging at his eyes and pushed them back, there was no way he was going to cry, not now, not in front of Gaius. He drew a shaking breath and the doctor turned back to him and his face softened, catching the watery look in the prince's eyes. He went to the bed and sat down.

"Sire, you know that Sir Leon won't stop until he finds Merlin, he knows how worried you are. You need to rest, it'll help and then perhaps you can ride out to meet the search party tomorrow afternoon. But please, just rest now." Gaius said and patted the young prince on the shoulder.


End file.
